In the back of the pet shop, mentor Karin Donner holds a golden dog, ready to go home with its soon to be new foster parent. With his doggie friends wishing him luck on his new journey, Donner embraces him and shows her affection and excitement with a hug.

“My husband and I call him our ‘little stinker.’ He was returned twice and after that I couldn’t allow him to be adopted again. So we adopted him,” Donner said.

Fostering dogs is when a person, in this case Donner, takes in an animal who has been injured, left, or is a stray. She has been fostering dogs for almost 3 years. The fostering takes place mainly in her home.

“My dog Olive was rescued by HHP [Hands Hearts and Paws], so once I bought the house I decided to return the favor and rescue more dogs,” Donner said

Donner also said that she loves to foster because of the way she feels when she helps the dogs. Fostering is something of a family tradition.

“My parents fostered for GRRIN (Golden Retriever Rescue in Nebraska) growing up,” Donner said.

Hands, Hearts, and Paws is an organization which takes in animals that need to be cared for. They take in animals and then have meetings with foster parents who can take in these animals and provide them a home while they wait to be adopted.

“I am contacted by shelters or rescue contacts of dogs needing rescue help. I then post the dogs to our private Facebook group and foster homes decide who they want to foster. We gather new intakes to one location, where we do intake photos, have food ready to disperse and foster homes meet there for pick up,” Debbie David from Hands, Hearts, and Paws said.

Fostering can save the lives of innocent animals. It gives animals another opportunity at having a good life. One Green Plant says that 7.6 million dogs enter American shelters every year. Fostering is helping lower those numbers.

“Fostering is important because it helps reduce overcrowding in shelters and opens up space for another animal to be saved,”  One Green Plant said.

Fostering can be a labor intensive job. The parents are taking care of an animal that may or may not have ever been in a home environment before. It is almost like having a full grown puppy.

“The application for fostering is: Application, vet reference check, home visit. We provide the food, vet care, kennels, etc. Foster homes provide day to day care, love, basic training, take to vet appts, weekly meet and greets and say goodbye when an approved adoptive home comes along,” David said.

Fostering is not a full time job, the people who foster also have another job. For instance, it is Donner is not only a foster parent, she’s also a full-time teacher.

“I cry the moment I see their family take them away to their new home. However, once they are adopted, that means I can get new puppies,” Donner said .

When it is all said and done the dogs are not permanent in the foster home. They eventually have to be adopted and the adoption of dogs can be a bittersweet event for some.

  “I have realized how horrible people can be, but I’ve also seen how amazing people can be. I have been open to a different kind of love. When you rescue a dog that has been chained up their whole life, or running around as a stray in an urban environment, that first night of safety they just give you this look. That look just says ‘thank you for saving me.’ From there, my husband and I just show them unconditional love,” Donner said.